Open & Reveal
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 1605: Francesca needs to talk honestly with Grace about her relationship with Nora (AU!Beth), now that she knows about the kiss. - Sunshine Girls 2 series


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 76th cycle. Now cycle 77!_

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**"Open & Reveal"  
(Nora (AU!Beth), Emily (OC; Nellie V.),) Grace (OC), Francesca (OC)  
Sunshine Girls 2 series  
_(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)_  
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It was one thing that, when she'd received Francesca's summons, she'd known that something was different. It was one thing that she went there, no hesitation. But when she'd actually arrived, and Francesca had come out to let her into the house, when she'd seen the girl, it felt like a boulder had been kept aloft, over her head, out of her awareness… and then it was released, and it had sunk to the bottom of her stomach with all its might.

Francesca's voice was still a bit marked, even though she was feeling better, but to hear it, knowing what was likely to come, it only emphasized for Grace the fact that her actions would likely bring hurt to the girl who'd called her over. She'd thanked her for coming.

"Sure," was the best Grace could say in return.

"Who was that who dropped you off?" Francesca asked as they still stood outside. Grace felt her cheeks redden.

"That, well… that was Ethan, Emily, she… she kind of… fixed us up," she admitted. The look on Francesca's face was indescribable. Was she upset? Did she not care at all?

"Oh," she'd finally said, and Grace felt a sudden and unstoppable urge to explain.

"I'd asked her a while ago, to find me a guy, so I wouldn't have to…" She realized too late what she was about to say, who she was about to say it to, and the effort it took for her to stop from finishing the sentence was so strong she thought for sure she must have inhaled her own tongue. _Does she know? Of course she has to, why would she call me? How much does she know? I don't want to have to lie to her…_

"Come in," Francesca said then, moving back into the house. Grace felt a chill, and she was rubbing at her arms as she followed. They went into the basement, which looked to be the TV room, as opposed to the living room upstairs. A boy and girl, no more than ten and possibly twins, were sitting sprawled on the couch, watching a movie, and when Francesca paused it and asked them to go upstairs, they complained loudly, but she responded louder, and finally they stomped upstairs.

"Francesca, I…" Grace started to say. Was this what it felt like to hyperventilate?

"So it's true then?" the girl cut her off, and Grace clammed up immediately. "You kissed her." Well, there it was, wasn't it? _Don't lie. You can't lie. Be honest, no matter what._

"Yes," her voice came out more broken than Francesca's. "We got… locked up, stuck together, we were talking, one thing led to another, I… It happened. We haven't talked about it, me and her, not since that day. I didn't want to get in between you two, you have to know that, I tried… so hard."

"Including that boy Ethan?" Francesca guessed. Silence fell in again. "You know what the crazy thing is? Aside from the fact that you were the one to fix me and Nora up in the beginning? When we first went out, me and her, I knew… I knew she had a thing for you, and it wasn't just some little crush that went away, no, it was the big thing, probably been going for a while. So I told myself there was no way she could break from that enough to start caring about me, at first. Then after a while, I didn't care. We were together, and I could tell she wasn't just going through the motions with me, what we had… it was real." _Was?_ Grace wondered if the tense was intentional.

"I know, I do, that's why I…"

"But I totally missed the point, didn't I?" Francesca just went on. "Because when I finally agreed to put those other worries aside, I was telling myself 'Well Nora likes her, but she doesn't like Nora back, she's not into girls, there's nothing to worry about. I completely wrote you off. But you do like her, don't you?" Grace could feel the redness mounting in her. It was one thing that she'd promised herself that she wouldn't lie; this was far beyond. Did she like Nora? _I love her. As a friend, as a… person… I'm not into girls, I'm into her._

And right there, standing in front of Nora's girlfriend, blushing in front of Nora's girlfriend, she'd started to cry. When she'd realized it, she'd gasped, in utter embarrassment, and she'd turned away… but where was she supposed to escape to?

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" she spoke through her sobs, and realizing she didn't even know if she was apologizing about her awkward crying or about how she'd gotten in the middle of her relationship with Nora, she actually started to laugh. Francesca must have thought she was insane.

"Alright, take a breath before you choke or something," Francesca had instead brought her a box of tissues, and Grace took one, hiding her face in it as she wiped her eyes and her nose. They sat on the couch, in silence for a while, the only sounds coming from Grace as she sniffled. She was distracted by the moving symbol of the screensaver from the twins' movie. "This is just a mess…"

"Tell me about it," Grace couldn't help but chuckle. Silence again.

"I told her to get out," Francesca finally spoke, and Grace looked at her. "Nora told me about the kiss and I told her to leave. We haven't spoken since then," she admitted. How could she respond to that? Was she supposed to? "I didn't want to end up saying something I'd regret, but what else am I supposed to do?"

"She… loves you," Grace looked down at her hands. She knew it was true, and as hard as it was for her to say it, especially to Francesca…

"And you," Francesca shook her head. "And I think you and I both know, if she had to choose… especially if she knows it's reciprocated now." She sounded so defeated, and Grace knew for all her efforts to keep this from happening, it had always been headed this way.

"You… You need to talk to her." The slight raise in Francesca's shoulders replied. 'I know.' She couldn't apologize to her, not properly. They were all victims and villains in equal parts at one point or another of this, none and all at blame. Now events had to run their course.

THE END

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******A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
************always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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